‹ Back to the text

acchecchi

aor 3rd sg of acchecchi (verb); aor 2nd sg of acchecchi (verb)

1. completely cut out; utterly severed; totally destroyed

Built from

• ac — prefix · completely, utterly
  An intensifying prefix, possibly related to ati- (beyond) or reinforced reduplication. Strengthens the action of cutting to mean cutting through entirely.
• chid — root · cut, cleave
  Sanskrit chid-, Greek σχίζω (schizō), Latin scindō. The root image is the blade's swift severance.
• a — ending · aorist 3rd sg
  Marks simple past tense, 3rd person singular active. The short -a replaces the thematic vowel in the strong aorist stem.

Analysis. ac- (prefix, intensifying) + chindati (cut), with aorist formation. The prefix ac- (variant of ati- or a strengthened form) intensifies the sense of the root.

Etymology. From √chid (cut, cleave), cognate with Sanskrit chid-, Greek σχίζω (schizō, split), Latin scindō (cut). The intensifying prefix ac- may reflect ati- (beyond) or a strengthened form of the root itself. The semantic sense "cut through completely" develops from the concrete image of a blade severing something.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version